$500 million revitalization plan cites Glens Falls as top priority

ALBANY — Downtown Glens Falls was chosen as one of two prime areas for a large-scale revitalization effort in the Capital Region’s Economic Development Council’s application for Gov. Cuomo’s new program of three $500 million grant awards.

In this grant application unveiled Oct. 5, the downtowns of Albany and Glens Falls were chosen as top priority for investment in an effort to revitalize the region’s six metropolitan areas. The plan calls for redevelopment efforts to begin with Glens Falls and Albany as pilot projects, with subsequent efforts to be undertaken in Saratoga Springs, Troy, Schenectady and Hudson.

The Capital Region’s Upstate Revitalization Initiative plan was released this week, after an eight-month effort that gathered ideas from about 3,500 people in public meetings, 1,700 others through social media interactions and employed the advice of 100-plus experts. The grant application, which took more than 750 hours to prepare, cost $2 million to develop.

The overall plan seeks to improve the quality of life in the Capital Region, raise students’ employability, and help enterprises innovate and create new products that create new jobs with high wages and fuel the region’s economy.

The plan also calls for spending millions on spurring tourism as well as marketing crafts and helping area residents develop enterprises that produce specialty agriculture products.

Six other upstate New York regional development councils are competing for one of three of the $500 million economic stimulus grants which are intended to jump-start the upstate economy.

The proposed effort to revitalize downtown Glens Falls and Albany’s core — which the plan cites as the two cities where property vacancy and urban blight are the highest in the region — leverages $800 million in “partner commitments” and $75 million to $140 million to support “Catalyst Projects.” This latter appropriation would be for smart-growth development efforts that complement and support revitalization projects already underway.

The plan notes that among those areas of Glens Falls targeted for such investment would be “under-utilized, vacant, and deteriorating properties” in low-income neighborhood areas.

The plan also calls for establishing a $30 million Urban Neighborhood revolving fund, investing in the “most impoverished” neighborhoods.

The grant application cites that in downtown Glens Falls, commercial property has a vacancy rate averaging about 20 percent, partially because of the exorbitant cost of renovating historic buildings. The document, more than 250 pages long, cites that the $30 million fund could partially offset that cost.

“Our cities have many beautiful historic buildings that could be transformed into amazing properties,” the plan notes, referring to downtown Glens Falls and Albany.

“Our downtowns must be able to attract and retain young professionals, a critical group for our future,” the plan continues, citing that young adults are about 94 percent more likely to live in urban neighborhoods than other settings.

The first round of such projects, presumably in Glens Falls and Albany, would create between 10,000 and 12,000 jobs and generate $20 million in tax revenue over the first five years of grant implementation, according to the community leaders and consultants drafting the grant application.

Another initiative in the grant application is establishing a Capital Regional Agriculture, Food and Tourism development effort, called the CRAFT Business Hub.

Those operating the hub will manage a $20 million revolving fund that administers grants to rural enterprises that need money to grow to their potential, according to the plan. The proposal also calls for the CRAFT hub to provide technical and business expertise to entrepreneurs.

“Our agriculture, food, and tourism businesses are some of our strongest assets, and include many successful entrepreneurs,” says the grant application, noting the existing barriers of intense competition and high overhead costs. This initiative alone is expected to create between 2,000 and 2,400 jobs.

Top priority for such investments will be new farmers, or enterprises that are transitioning from traditional agriculture to specialty products, or realigning towards agritourism.

This CRAFT Business Hub program will also assign top priority to investments in tourism businesses expanding to accommodate more traffic or attract more visitors in the off-season, according to the grant application.

Businesses to receive loans will be expected to create one job for each $40,000 in funding — and maintain these jobs for at least two years. Loans are expected to range from $50,000 to $500,000.

The three winning Upstate Revitalization Initiative proposals are expected to be announced by December 31.

The Capital Region’s proposal, if chosen and implemented, is expected to create 40,000 new jobs, put 4,500 unemployed residents to work, provide living wages for about 20,000 people now living in poverty, and attract 10,000 new residents.

Warren County Economic Development Corp. President Ed Bartholomew informed Warren County Supervisors Monday that the $500 million grant application had been drafted, and he requested a letter of support from the county, which the county leaders approved.